Device for operating reciprocating beds of printing-presses



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. E. A. BLAKE.

DEVICE FOR OPERATING REUIPROUATING BED$ 0F PRINTING PRESSES. No. 513,554. Patented Jan. 30, 1894.

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 2.

, B. AJBL-A KE. DEVICE FOR OPERATING REGIPROGATING BED$ 0B PRINTING PRESSES," No. 513,554. Patented 5511.50, 1894.

S'IAESV EDWARD A. BLAKE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DEVICE FOR OPERATING RECIPROCATING BEDS-F PRINTING- PRESSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 513,554, dated January 30, 1894..

Application filed March 17, less. Serial a. 466,461. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. BLAKE, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and Stateof Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Operating the Reciprocating Beds of Printing-Presses, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to printing presses, the

' reciprocating beds of which are operated by means of a gear which alternately engages an overhead and underneath longitudinally ar- "an rack, secured to and depending from the bed; and the object of my invention is to, first, avoid the necessity of providing the shaft carrying the said operating gear with aswivel joint; second, to return thebed to its original position faster than theimpression movement thereof; and third, to greatly simplify the construction of these devices, economize the power necessary to actuate the same, and greatlyreduccthecost of manufacture thereof.

In the drawings,Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section of the reciprocating bed and the printing press below the horizontal plane thereof, taken on the vertical plane intersect ing the shaft of theoperating gear. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal verticalsection through the bed and driving mechanism thereof, taken on dotted line 2, 2, Fig. 1. Fig; 3 is a plan View of said driving mechanism. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are diagrammatical views, on a smaller scale, showing the positions of the cam wheel when in engagement with the turning stud, and Fig. 7 is a cross-section showing a portion of the bed, the racks and the transverse reciprocal shaft having but one rack engaging gear.

In the drawings A represents the recipro eating bed of a printing press having longitudinal runners at, which travel in tracks I), b, made and located with reference thereto, and supported by the printing press frame 0 in any suitable manner. The side walls of the press-frame O are connected at about their centers of length, or at the point where it is deemed advisable to place the rack-engaging gear shaft, with a cross-frame D. The upper part of this cross-frame, near the right-hand Side of the press-frame, is provided with or formed into a guideway c for directing the movement of the longitudinally reciprocal carriage d of the shaft E, on or near the mner end of which is secured the gear 6.

Secured to and depending from the bed is the longitudinal hanging frame F, the lower portion of which is bent laterally and horizontally toward the gear 6 and affords a support for the longitudinal under rack G, the teeth of which latter are on the same plane as the lowest segment of the gear a which engages therewith, as will hereinafter be more fully explained.

Secured directly to the under side of the bed, on that side of said gear a opposite the hanging frame, is located the upper or overhanging rack g, which is arranged longitudinally on a vertical plane parallel to that of the rack G, and at such a distance therefrom that when the carriage d is moved to the limit of its movement away from the rack G it will be in mesh with the rack g, as shown in Fig. 7. This description, so far as the operation of the gear is concerned, is limited to a press having but one operating gear. Were only one gear used to alternately engage with the racks G and g, the speed of the bed would be the same both ways. I therefore prefer to use both an impression gear 6' (so called because it only engages with the rack g to mo ve the bed in the direction necessary to make the impression) and the return gearH (so called because it engages with rack G to return the bed to its original position), which being greater in diameter than the said gear c returns the bed to its original position faster than it moves when making its impression movement. This return gear is located on the shaft E near the inner end thereof, immediately next the gear .e, and, as this gear engages the rack g the 6' is in the act of moving out of mesh with rack g, or vice versa, because, besides the difficulty of getting the said gears into proper mesh with the rack, there would be a short interim of time during which shaft E would.

be held immovablea time long enough to do great damage. I therefore make the racks less in length than the throw of the reciprocation of the bed, by about the diameter of the teeth of gear H, and I provide turning studs I, I, which project laterally from extensions of the hanging frame F on the same plane as the center of shaft E. These studs are located a distance apart corresponding to the extent of the movement of the bed; are an equal distance removed from the ends of the racks, that is, about one-half the diameter of the gear Il. When the bed. has nearly reached the limit of its movement in either direction, and just as the gear 11 releases the rack, the stud I on the following end of the frame F enters the widened mouth of the runway of a cam-wheel K, which is secured on the innermost end of the shaft E. This shaft, it will be observed, continues to revolve all the time, and when the stud enters the runway of said cam, the curvature of the said runway is such that for the first quarter of the revolution of said cam, while the stud is engaging it, the movement of the bed is greatly retarded, until it is stopped completely when the stud is nearest the center of the wheel, and then starts the bed in the opposite direction while the cam is making the second quarter of its revolution, and brings the proper gear into engagement with the proper rack. It is while the cam is in engagement with either one of the turning studs I that the shaft E is reciprocated either toward or from the frame F. Should the gear H be engaging, or just going out of engagement with rack G, as shaft E was moved away from the same, the cam would thereby be moved out of engagement with the stud I, did I not increase the thickness of the cam so as to compensate for such receding movement, and enable the stud I to remain in the runway until the bed had started in the opposite direction. When the bed reaches the limit of its movement in the opposite direction the stud I at that end, although the shaft E is at the time at the limit of its movement farthest from the hanging frame F, will enter the runway of the cam sufficient to make the return movement and start the bed in the direction of its original position. The runway of the cam may be'curved as shown in the drawings, or otherwise, according as desired to accomplish the result hereinbefore specified. I do not, therefore desire to be confined to the construction shown. The shaft E is driven through the medium of a pinion 7.". on the inner end of the transverse drive-shaftJ, which is suitably journaled 'in frame 0. This pinion k is of awidth corresponding to the throw of the reciprocal movement of the said shaft E, and permits of the lateral movement of the gear II without its moving out of engagement therewith. The outer end of this drive-shaft may be driven in any suitable manner, either by direct transmission of power from the pulley shaft, or otherwise. In order to reciprocate the carriage in which the shaft E is j ournaled, I have provided a vert-1- cally arranged walking-beam M, the outer end of which is bifurcated and pivotally connected to trunnions projecting laterally on either side of said carriage; which is fulcrumed about its center of length and has an oscillating movement imparted to its lower end through the medium of a link N, which is driven by a cam O, which is mounted on the revolving shaft P. I do not wish to be confined, however, to these means for imparting the reciprocating movement to said carriage, as there aremany ways known to mechanical science which can be utilized for this purpose.

There are always in large machines of the character to which my invention applies, many details of construction, which would re- .quire modifications and slight changes in the construction of my invention as hereinbefore described. I desire to be considered, however, as comprehending all of such modifications and changes necessary to put my nvention into practical use, as coming within the scope of the same.

I desire to again call attention to the fact that the gear shaft E always revolves on the same horizontal plane, and that the driving of the bed first inone direction or the other is accomplsshed simply by longitudinal reciprocation of this shaft so as to bring the driving gear laterally into engagement with overhead and under racks, in order remove the bed one way or the other.

Vhat I claim as new isv 1. In a printing press the combination with a reciprocating bed having two longitudinal racks secured to the under side thereof in such manner that one faces upward and the other faces downward, of a transverse shaft which is reciprocal longitudinally, and two gears thereon of different diameters said racks being placed on different vertical planes, and so located with reference to said gears that the larger and smaller gear alternately engage-the former with one rack to move the bed faster in one direction, and the latter with the other rack to move the bed slower in the opposite direction.

2. The combination with the reciprocating bed,- two longitudinal racks secured to the under side thereof and arranged one above the other so as to face each other, and the turning studs I, as described, of gears movable transversely between and alternately engaging said racks, and a cam-wheel revolving and movable transversely therewith, having a runway in its face adjacent to said studs with.

which said studs alternately engage and its movement in one direction, and moving transversely back to its original position and engaging the opposite stud when said bed reaches the limit of its movement in the opposite direction, as set forth.

EDWARD A. BLAKE.

Witnesses:

RICHARD J. J AGKER, FRANK D. THOMASON.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 513,554, granted January 30,1894, upon the application of Edward A. Blake, of Chicago, Illinois, for an improvement; in Devices for Operating Reciprocating Beds of Printing Presses, an error appears in the printed specification requiring the following correction, viz In line 127, page 2, the word gears should read gem",- and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the casein he Patent Office.

Signed, countersigned, andsealed this 31st day of July, A. D. 1894.

WM. H. SIMS, First Assistant Secretary of the Interior.

[SEAL] (Jountersigned:

JOHN S. SEYMOUR,

Commissioner of Patents. 

